Friday Reads: Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is quickly becoming one of my favourite contemporary adult romance authors (although it is a duo!). So when one from their back catalogue was offer for 99p on Kindle, I snapped it up and started it almost immediately.

Although it hasn’t been exactly what I thought in terms of the story set-up, it’s been really interesting reading so far. Set in an agents office in LA, there’s loads of fascinating boys-club/feminist talk about the dynamics of the industry, especially as the romantic leads are practically pitted against each other after their two companies merge. Plus I'm really enjoying the fact that the female lead is a successful thirty-something year old - not seen very often!

I’m almost certainly going to finish this tonight and enjoy the final drama and hot romance that I’ve come to expect from Christina Lauren’s books!

Reading plans for the rest of the weekend are the other ebook I picked up on offer: Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey. What are you planning on reading this weekend?

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

Everyone has been talking about this book! Renee’s latest novel is set in the 1870’s, in New Orleans, the city full of secrets, both human and mythical. Setting the scene for a new series, The Beautiful tells of Celine, a young woman fresh off the boat, hoping to find a new start in a new city, where no-one will know what she’s running from. Somewhat ironic, because it seems just about everyone in New Orleans is not what they appear.

A hunter is stalking the citizens of New Orleans, leaving young women with their throats mutilated. The police are baffled but Celine is starting to suspect that this so-called Court of Lions knows something. Part crime thriller, part swooping romance, this was stunningly gorgeous to read but honestly… it took me a while to get into. I don’t like to admit that, because everyone else has spoken so highly of it but I think that lyrical language, while amazing, didn’t suit my style of reading which is typically dipping in and out. Having said that, the ending massively picked up and I read the last 20 or so percent in one evening. 

What made it for me was the characters and the setting. New Orleans is a fascinating city and Renee’s style of writing made it seem so magical and mysterious, and the Court of Lions was just as mysterious as the city they inhabited. A group of not-quite-humans have sought refuge in the city and their leader was the charming and handsome Sebastian. Trouble was, he knew it, and pulls Celine into their tangled web, despite everyone’s better judgement. 

Although I had some trouble getting into the flow of the writing (which is entirely my fault, not the book’s), it was gripping and thrilling and darkly lyrical, perfectly encapsulating the feel of the magic of the city and all of its enigmatic inhabitants.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne

As I’ve come to expect from Holly’s novels, this was a moving, poignant and highly topical story about an emotionally abusive relationship and how easy it is to lose yourself in that drug-like high called love. Told in two intermingling timelines, we see Amelie meet and fall for Reece, a cute and charming boy in a band, and six months later, Amelie retracing their steps to figure out why it hurts so much after the broke up. 

The premise was fascinating and oddly hilarious, as Amelie butts in on herself, warning us of the red flags that she should have seen at the time, like the casual claim Reece laid on her when they first met or the way he systematically removed her from her friends. All the romantic gesture that had Amelie swooning at the time, made her to angry months later. Even I was practically screaming at the book at times – for example, Reece gate crashes Amelie’s first gig to sing her a song and tell her he loves her. Um, rude! But most of the girls at school, Amelie included, thought it was the sweetest thing. No! But, of course, it’s easy to see in hindsight the terribly manipulative things he did. 

I saw Holly at the Bath Children’s Literature Festival at the end of September and she spoke about her writing process for this book. Holly knew it was going to be an ambitious project but wanted to book to be a rite of passage, a safe place for girls to understand the importance of healthy relationships, while remaining hopeful. Apparently, it was originally in second person and Holly had to re-write all the pronouns when she wanted to create the two timelines, which made the whole thing all the more complicated! 

Holly also talked about Reece, how a psychology student noticed that he has classic traits of narcissistic attachment disorder, and how she wrote him to be douche gift-wrapped in charismatic coolness. Reece is one of those characters that you love to hate, that you can’t quite put your finger on what makes your skin crawl about him. Holly wanted to prove that abusers blend in, that abuse itself transcends class and doesn’t discriminate to any particular “type” of victim. And Amelie doesn’t read as stupid or naïve, just caught up in a dramatic relationship and thinking its love. It highlighted the grey areas, especially in teenage relationships, where love can burn fast, and behaviours learned from rom-coms aren’t always healthy. It also emphasised the importance of listening to your gut, about recognising the red flags and being comfortable and confident enough in your relationship to speak up. 

I adored Holly’s latest. Maybe a bit different to her other novels, it still highlighted the important issue recognising and having healthy relationships, romantic or platonic, young or old. I wanted to bundle Amelie in a hug and smack Reece in the face for most of the book, and even though I finished it a few weeks back, it’s still swirling around my head: how Reece could behave like that, how I wish Amelie was stronger in the first place to voice her worries, how emotion trauma is just as significant as physical and just as difficult to move on from. Definitely a winner of a book and one that all teenagers should read.

Books On My Autumn TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. 

Right, er... hello. So, between moving house, furnishing and re-decorating said house, having our first house guest and then starting work again for the new school year, blogging was unfortunately left by the wayside. But! I do not want to let this blog die a quiet death and so, here we go!

Books I want to read this autumn - well, there's quite a few and most of them aren't out yet so this is more of a 'books I want to buy this autumn'-type list. 

1 - How to Stop Time by Matt Haig - the last book for my Hogwartsathon TBR (hosted by Georgi at niffler_reads, if you're interested)

2 - The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne - picked this up at the weekend, planning on reading this ASAP, because my friend Alyce and I are going to see Holly this Sunday at the Bath Children's Literature Festival!

3 - Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell - due out early October, I pre-ordered the Waterstones fancy colourful edition months ago and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!

4 - The Toll by Neal Shusterman - the finale to the Scythe trilogy, this also featured on my 'Most Anticipated Reads of the rest of 2019'

5 - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black - what can I say apart from argh? I'm hoping/planning on re-reading books one and two before this comes out, to really appreciated Jude and Carden (mostly Carden) so fingers crossed.

6 - The Prenup by Lauren Layne - picked this up on kindle recently, looked cute, easy to read and I'm a sucker for a good romance.

7 - The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman - another e-book, sounds like a fluffy and funny read about my kind of people: bookish people!


And that is actually it! My TBR is looking kind of sparse at the moment, especially while I'm waiting for all the books to come out, so my last few are sneaking on there, as I'm asking for them for my birthday in mid-October.

8 and 9 - Vicious and Vengeful by VE Schwab - after reading and completely adoring her Shade of Magic trilogy, I'm in need for some more of her stories and these sound amazing!

10 - Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - I know, I am so late to the party on this one! So looking forward to it though, everyone has said great things and I can't wait to get stuck in!


Let me know if we share any TBR goals and what books you're looking forward to this autumn?

Top Ten Most Anticipated Reads of (the rest of) 2019

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and now lives at That Artsy Reader Girl.


Below is a list of the books I am most excited for but still have to wait months before I can hold them. I've done them in date order because there's enough complications narrowing it down to 10 without trying to put them in order of preference!


1 - Storm and Fury by Jennifer L Armentrout - 11 June - I know this is already out but I have just this second (yesterday to you lot) heard about it and now I am equally desperate to have it as the rest! Pity I have to buy for, you know, my house first.


2 - Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart - 11 July - book two following the amazing "Grace and Fury", I am very intrigued to how this story will unfold.


3 - The Kingdom by Jess Rothenburg - 11 July - I heard about this on booktube and it sounds incredible, all about post-humanity and what makes us human.


4 - A Pocketful of Stars by Aisha Bushby - 8 August - I'd seen this around but after speaking to Aisha at Lucy Powrie's book launch, I'm all the more excited to read her debut.


5 - Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee - 3 September - anyone who knows me will be aware that I am a huge Marvel fan, especially Loki, so a prequel exploring his teen years? I am all over that!


6 - Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff - 5 September - I might not have read book two yet but I am desperate to get my hands on the full trilogy and to see the finale of Mia's journey.


7 - Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell - 24 Sept - need I say anything more that: argh!!!!


8 - The Places I've Cried in Public by Holly Bourne - 3 October - again: argh! New Holly Bourne!


9 - The Toll by Neal Shusterman - 7 November - the finale to the Scythe trilogy, I am beyond excited and might have done a squeal when the cover was released.

10 - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black - November - another again: argh! The full-on howls I sounded at the cliffhanger ending of "The Wicked King" annoyed everyone around me and I need to know what happens to Jude and Carden!

Top Ten Characters That Remind Me of Myself

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and now lives at The Artsy Reader Girl


It's been a while since I did one of these but this week's prompt is rather interesting. I do tend to see little traits of myself in lots of characters, but I struggled to come up with ten that I really identified with, as an introvert that adores books but won't stop talking and wishes to be braver than she acts sometimes. Anyway, here's my list of characters that remind me of myself, at various points in my life.


1 and 2 - Claire and Eve in Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine - off to a good (cheating) start with two very different girls on the surface but are not only great friends in the books but also remind me of myself; Claire for her smarts, although mine was literature and hers is Physics, and Eve for her Gothic wardrobe (which I have grown out of) and mindset (which I have not).


3 - Daisy in Giant Days by John Allison - although Esther's fashion sense is incredible, Daisy, with her randomness, her love for the environment, her shyness until she's drunk, is much more similar to me!


4 - Cress in Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer - not the super-long hair, it's the overactive imagination and terrible shyness that I relate to in Cress, especially in my teenage years.


5 - Posy in The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts by Annie Darling - definitely her hardcore love of books!


6 - Romy in The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James - for her fangirl habits, not her engineering smarts!


7 - Phoebe (and friends) in Freshers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison - Phoebe and gang is quite similar to my group of friends at university. Although I didn't live in halls, we totally got up to a bit of mischief and bonded over our mutual weirdness.


8 - Cath in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - another similar experience to mine at university, it also took me a while to find my place. I also relate hard to Cath's fangirl tendencies.


9 - Kizzy in The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - I am all about Kizzy's strange outbursts and constant hunt for snacks.


10 - Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - again with the Gothic mindset, Catherine's habit of letting her imagination get away from her is also one of my more annoying traits.


So there you have it! Do we share any similar character traits? Or do you relate to completely different characters - I do tend to see myself in the heroines rather than villains. Let me know in the comments!

Friday Reads: The Flatshare and The One Who's Not The One

Hello and merry Friday, everyone! Apologises for my absence (did anyone even notice?) but work and life just got on top of me. Plus, I've only just finished my re-reads of the Morganville Vampires series so I didn't really have much to update you on! Speaking of: Morganville just as amazing as I remember!


This week I've been reading The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary - yes, the book that everyone's on about at the moment - and The One Who's Not The One by Keris Stainton. Both are contemporary romances, Keris is of course a favourite author of mine and The Flatshare is Beth's debut. I'm enjoying them both immensely, although barely started one and about a third of the way through the other.


Last week I read The Quiet at the End of the World by Lauren James and I cannot stop thinking about it! How I wish this book had been around a year ago, I could have written a (hopefully) amazing essay discussing the post-human condition in comparison to "Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep?" Yes, I am well aware how much of a nerd I sound.


I also read Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren, finished that in two days, and that was incredibly adorable. And, great plus side: I have their whole back catalogue to work through!


Plan for this bank holiday weekend: finish The Flatshare and I'm sure I'm going to have lots of thoughts when I finish it, so look forward to that (maybe)!


What are you reading this long weekend? Let me know!